A New Family
by Gale Abbey
Summary: A forgotten branch of the Potter family makes itself known in the wake of Sirius' death. HP/MASH crossover.
1. Chapter 1

Petunia Dursley was not having a good day. In fact, she was not having a good month. Her troubles had started when her poor son Dudley was, in her opinion, unfairly expelled from his school for bullying. To compound this, her husband, Vernon, had had a massive heart attack when he heard the news. He had only just gotten out of the hospital that morning, and was on bed rest. The doctors had said that he was to be under no stress whatsoever. Unfortunately her good-for-nothing nephew was due to arrive at the end of the week from his boarding school. _Vernon always gets so mad when that boy is here, _she thought. _He better not cause Vernon to have a relapse._

Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the mail. Petunia quickly made her way from the kitchen to the front of the house. "Bill...bill...letter from Marge; I'll save that for Vernon. Sale at the grocer's...What's this?" she asked herself. The letter was addressed to a Ms. Petunia Evans. She could not think of anyone who did not know that she was married to Vernon. _After all, _she thought, _we've been married for almost twenty years now. _Not only did the sender not know her married name, but the letter wasn't even from England. She opened the letter.

_Dear Ms. Evans,_

_I apologize for using your maiden name, but I fear that in my old age I have forgotten your married name. I hope you can forgive an old man. I am writing you because I can think of no other way to find out what has happened to my nephew. It has been many years since I last tried to contact him, and it appears that his address is no longer good; I sent a letter a few weeks ago, but it was returned along with a note saying that no one by that named lived there. It was not until I came across an old correspondence with his wife that I realized that you, her sister, might know of some way of contacting him. If you know where he is now living, or if you know of someone else who would, please either send me a letter at my return address, or call me at the enclosed phone number._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Col. Sherman Potter (ret.)_

Petunia couldn't believe her luck. _This is the perfect way to get rid of that boy, _she thought. _I had better call him straight away, so arrangements can be made as soon as possible. _She rushed over to the phone and began to dial.

***

It was early morning at the Potter house, and Mildred Potter had just gotten up. Her husband, Sherman Potter, had been up for well over an hour, feeding the horses. He was just coming in the kitchen door when the phone rang. He grabbed it before Mildred could even get up from her seat at the kitchen table.

"Hello, Potter residence," he said, wondering who would be calling at this hour of the morning.

"I-Is this Sherman Potter?" came a hesitant voice.

"Yes..." he said.

"This is Petunia Dursley, Lily's sister. You sent me a letter."

"Dursley, that's right. You married Vernon Dursley, works for Grunnings, making drills."

"Yes, that's right," she said. "You said that you wanted to know about your nephew?"

"Do you know how I can contact him?" he asked.

"I'm sorry to say that won't be possible," she said. "He and my sister were killed almost sixteen years ago." Something about the way she said it

made him think that she wasn't really very sorry at all. "Their son is still alive though." She paused. "That's actually the main reason I called. You see, my poor Vernon just got out of the hospital and is still recovering from his heart attack."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Colonel Potter. _She definitely wants something from me, _he thought. _The question is, what is it. _

"When they released him from the hospital, the doctors said to make sure that my Vernon was under the least amount of stress possible," she said. "And, well, the boy and Vernon have never really gotten on together, and the boy's due to get back from his boarding school at the end of the week. I'd really prefer it if Vernon didn't have to deal with the boy's disruptive behaviour at all. Is there any way you could take the boy for the summer?"

Colonel Potter took the phone from his ear and stared at it. _Did she really just as me that? This woman doesn't know me from Adam's house-cat, and she's asking me to take care of her nephew that's lived with her for almost his whole life. _He gave himself a shake, and put the phone back to his ear, realizing that she was still waiting for an answer.

"Sorry, you caught me by surprise. We would be glad to have him; just let me know when he'll get here so I can arrange to pick him up from the airport."

"I'll call you later this week with the details," Petunia said in a brusk manner, before hanging up the phone. Colonel Potter slowly hung up the phone, with a bemused look on his face.

"What was that all about, Sherman?" asked Mildred, who was unable to contain her curiosity any longer.

"Well, it looks like we're going to have a guest for the summer," he replied.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry Potter was not happy; school had ended and his godfather was dead. To top it all off, he would have to spend the entire summer with his extremely unpleasant relatives. _I wish I could stay with the Weasleys,_ he thought. _Or at Hogwarts. Hell, I'd even agree to spend the summer with _Snape. Harry's musings were cut short by the arrival of his Aunt Petunia. Harry looked at his watch; his aunt was over two hours late. Ron and Hermione had had to leave after the first hour, but only after Hermione extracted a promise from him to call her if his aunt never showed up. Harry felt a shiver of foreboding go down his spine at the sight of his aunt; she did not look happy. Her lips were pressed into a single, thin line, and her jaw was tightly clenched.

"Let's go," she snapped. "We don't have a lot of time." Harry had to hurry after her, dragging his trunk behind him.

"Where's Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked, not really sure that he wanted to know the answer. If possible, Petunia's lips got even thinner.

"If you must know, Vernon suffered a heart attack earlier this month, and has not yet recovered. He is supposed to be under as little stress as possible," she said, with a glare at Harry. _Oh Merlin, _thought Harry, _I'm going to be locked in my room for the entire summer. It'll be just like the summer after my first year._

As visions of locks and cat-flaps went through his head, Petunia brought the car to a stop. "Get out," she commanded.

Harry looked out the window and blinked. "Um...Aunt Petunia, this isn't Privet Drive."

"You think I don't know that, you imbecile?! Get. Out."

"Okay, okay." Harry reluctantly got out of the car and retrieved his trunk. Petunia immediately grabbed his arm in a bruising clutch and began dragging him across the parking lot towards a large building.

"Why are we at the airport, Aunt Petunia?"

"You're going on a trip," she replied in a clipped tone.

"What?! But-but, the wards! Dumbledore said that I have to live with family for them to work!"

"I don't care about the bloody wards! They won't do any good if Vernon dies because _you _are in the house. And you _will _be with family, _your _family. They're certainly no relations of _mine_!"

"But they're all dead!"

"Not all. You have one left on your father's side. A Great-Uncle, or some such thing. He's agreed to take you for the summer, God only knows why." Petunia finally came to a halt when they reached the ticket counter, but her vice-like grip remained.

"Reservation for Harry Potter, to Missouri via New York," she said.

"Passport," asked the airline representative. Petunia rummaged through her purse for several minutes, before unceremoniously thrusting the requested item at the representative.

"Since when do I have a passport?" asked an incredulous Harry.

"I believe in being prepared," said Petunia. "Now hush."

"What is the nature of the visit?" asked the representative.

"He's visiting family. I believe you have some services for unaccompanied minors?" she asked. The airline representative eyed Harry skeptically.

"Well, ye, but minors his age usually do just fine on their own."

"There've been problems in the past. Last time I let him travel by himself, he called in a fake bomb threat, and the place had to be evacuated." Harry gaped at his Aunt's blatant lying. "This time I want him watched, and make sure that he doesn't get near a phone."

"Yes ma'am," replied the representative, with a glare at Harry. "And I'll make sure that the attendants in New York and Iowa know too." Petunia nodded in satisfaction. _Great, _thought Harry, _there goes the plan of calling Hermione for a rescue._

"Does he have any baggage to check?"

"Well don't just stand there! Put your trunk up there!" Harry was suddenly glad that he had sent Hedwig to Hermione for the summer; he didn't want to even think about trying to get an owl past the airport security. The representative handed him his ticket, and Harry watched as his trunk disappeared down a conveyor belt. The representative had a quick conversation with a large, well-built man, who reminded Harry of an actor he had once seen on TV, Arnold something or other.

"This is Mr. West," said the representative. "He will accompany you to the gate, and stay with you you until you board the plane."

"I'll be keeping my eyes on you, said the large man, with narrowed eyes. Harry swallowed. It was worse than having Mad-Eye Moody stare at him in suspicion.

"I have to get back to Vernon," said Petunia. "Don't even _think _about using any of _that_." With that, she turned and quickly strode from the airport.

"Let's get a move on," said the intimidating Mr. West. "Wouldn't want to miss your plane, would we?" Harry gave one last look at the retreating figure of his aunt, then reluctantly turned and followed after the man.


End file.
